Celtics Beat Pistons to Advance to NBA Finals

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) - Boston got past an old nemesis to setup a matchup with another rival. Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Ray Allen had 17 and Kevin Garnettadded 16 to lift the Celtics to an 89-81 victory over the DetroitPistons on Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Boston, which locked up with Detroit many times in the 1980s,will now rekindle another classic series in the NBA finals againstthe Los Angeles Lakers. The Pistons were eliminated on their home court for the firsttime during a six-year run that included a trip to the conferencefinals each year and the 2004 title. Boston entered the series without a road win in the postseason,then beat Detroit on its home court twice to win the gruelingseries. After playing two Game 7s, the Celtics will get a needed breakbefore hosting Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Thursday night. Chauncey Billups scored a playoff-high 29 points and RichardHamilton had 21, but the rest of their teammates had lacklusterefforts - especially Rasheed Wallace. Wallace scored just four points on 2-of-12 shooting and hadthree turnovers in what might've been his last game as a Piston andcould've been Flip Saunders last as Detroit's coach. After it was 58-all, Detroit closed the third quarter with a10-2 run and took its first lead since midway through the openingquarter. Just when it seemed the Pistons might be in control with a 70-60lead early in the fourth, the Celtics scored nine points in lessthan 2 minutes and went on a 19-4 run that put them ahead 79-74. Billups' three-point play pulled Detroit to 83-79 with 2:24left, then the Pistons wasted a chance to get closer. Tayshaun Prince grabbed a loose ball after a Boston miss andturned the ball over when James Posey surprised him from behind andsnatched it away. Pierce made two free throws on the possession, putting theCeltics up by six with 1½ minutes to go. The Pistons failed on their 3-pointers down the stretch andcouldn't take advantage of Garnett missing two free throws with 36seconds left.

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